Hitch

That's a weird one!

I wasn't being passive aggressive. It's just you've been arguing most of the day for Schwarber, but if you're not bothered about how the roster shapes up with him on there, then there's no point me being either (in response to your arguments). No biggie. Plus, I don't think there's any chance NYC go for him.

I might be giving Breslow too much credit, but he sometimes comes off to me as a man that is fully and absolutely fed up with circus around baseball. I get the impression he loathes the press, or at least having to do that part of his job.

At least I know there's no point engaging any further on this topic. Thanks for that at least ha!

No it doesn't feel like we've gotten nowhere. Since this time last year: we have traded for, and extended, one of the very best pitchers in the world. We have developed, for what feels like the first time in a long time, exciting starting pitching. We have built a lot of depth. We have developed and locked down one of the most exciting young players in the game. We have built a formidable pen. For the first time in as long as I can remember, it feels like if we nail the acquisitions on 1st base, 3rd base, and get a #2, (just 3 positions) we have a change at winning it all. You can try and frame it as getting nowhere before actually giving them a chance to sign the players they need to fill those holes if you want, but I cant think of a more stupid and useless way to look at it. Now if they don't nail these acquisitions and/or go cheap, then sure, hammer them, they'll deserve it. But give them the time to make these moves first, Jesus. In terms of them being intentional deceptions, honestly I think you're miles off. People always think there's some 4D chess being played, and dastardly people are making dastardly plans. I always like to think of the great quote by Jennifer Lawrence's character in 'Don't Look Up' - "You guys, the truth is way more depressing. They are not even smart enough to be as evil as you're giving them credit for." Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, I've filmed behind the scenes at a huge sporting organisation for the past 4 years, and worked for, and interviewed, a billionaire that makes Henry look like a pauper. If I told you some of the things I've seen and/or heard over the years you'd think I was lying. And not just lying, but making up conversations that can't possibly be true. You only need to look at Musk's twitter posting to see how a man can be both incredibly accomplished and brilliant, and simultaneously one of the stupidest men alive. Everyone is fallible. When Werner came out and said 'full throttle' I can imagine Henry facepalming. I don't for one second think they agreed to get that message out and then let the fans down as some classing deception. Why on earth would they? Honestly, the sooner you come to the realisation that everyone is just winging it, everyone, winging the f*** out of it, the more the world starts to make sense in these crazy times. I do believe Henry doesn't want to waste money, and would love to win cheaper if he can to prove how brilliant he is, but he wants to win first and foremost, and as well as this, there has been huge mistakes made by this organisation in the past 7 years, huge, and we're only now coming out the other end at long last. If he doesn't jump on it, he will rightly be hammered for it. But I don't think there's been, or will be, any sham, just ineptness on a huge scale across multiple departments at the highest levels of the Sox up until this point. Let's hope Breslow is up the job, I believe he is. As an aside, at Liverpool where he has had much smarter people working at the same level (Gordon is the kind of Exec Henry wish he had in Kennedy), they have had a decade of success and near misses. The Sox have just been poorly run. It's really that simple for me.

Nobody, absolutely nobody is saying we don't need Schwarber because we've got Casas and Masa. 🤦‍♂️ Do me a favour - give me the off season moves and roster it results in. I want to try and understand what you think we can do.

No, I don't think it'll be a sham. I don't think they're saying things and rubbing their hands together after we believe it, pinching their chubby little flanks and laughing at us. I just think they're inept as in upper management - Bloom's moves, and Werner and Kennedy running their mouths. We have made a catalogue of mistakes in the past 7 years. I don't think it's because of anything other than just utter ineptness. And Henry won't send good money after bad, Now, we've mostly got good money following good, so he has to come through.

Absolutely, I have no issues with that. We have to get it right this winter.

Yeah I won't let off the FO either. It was a mess. But to let down your teammates tells me everything I need to know. I'm glad he's gone.

Agreed. The one interesting wrinkle this year is that I'm almost certain that the tax penalties for repeat offenders are squashed and started again at the start of every new agreed bargain. Which means we can go over in the coming season and not worry about the harsher repeat penalty in the next one as it will restarted anyway.

Whether they demanded or asked, teammate of the year flat out refused to play there. f*** him.

Of course you implied it. You stated that JH is playing the game of sham and then listed things that back that up. None of which back that up. Regardless, I agree with this winter will show us a lot. I believe we will go all in and get what we need to make this a team with a real shot (with maybe some weaker bench pieces but I'm okay with that). But I would be lying if I didn't admit to being concerned about the either/or talk we've been seeing. I'm not saying we should be getting both Bregman and Alonso specifically, but it needs to be one of them (or a similar bat) plus another for sure.

I don't think they care about the actual dollar being spent per year - it's the tax burden line that governs them. And with Crochet and Anthony's extension, that just got a lot higher. I think we're actually spending considerably less this year then the tax burden. They'd prefer it to be the other way for sure, which it likely will be in a few years.

Until they did and he just said no. Then went and played the for the Giants.

This is verging into conspiracy time. We didn't dump Devers because we signed Bregman. And what the hell does it matter if he DFA'd Buehler after we signed him? He's still on the hook for all the money. Honestly. I think sometimes some of you just look for reasons to be grumpy.

An impressive lack of reference to the points from my post in your reply. I'll just refer you back to my original post.

You would hope not, but all I see is reports of - they'll pivot to/either of these players, etc. They've got to get two. Got to.

Agreed.

I think it makes sense to offer hm a multi year deal at this point, pay him for rehabbing (like we love to do) but then get the benefit on the back end.

These things don't exist in a vacuum. If you play Yoshida in LF (the only position you can) you then can't play two of Duran, Abreu, Rafaela, and Anthony, with Schwarber DH'ing (I assume you've traded one). So our our athleticism has just taken a massive hit, and so has our defence. In the meantime we've added a lot of payroll. Now, we still need two middle infielders and (another power bat) and a number 2. How are we affording all this? Because I think it's fair to say that if we'll be spending way over limit 1 there is no good way to call the ownership cheap, and yet this is all going to cost a lot more than that (probably the higher levels of limit 2, going into 3). You could say that we don't then get two infielders, just one, but that means an often injured Mayer and a limited Romy rocking up as every-dayers with Sogard and Hamilton as the back ups. Yikes. But say we pull off the 3 big offence signings, (say Schwarber, Bregman and Alonso as well as a #2) we essentially have 3 DH's on the roster already with Massa, Schwarber and Alonso/Casas, and you can add Bregman to it in two years too. With Massa gone it's still 3 DH's (Schwarber, Alonso/Casas and Bregman) with 3 of them being forced to play the field at all times which would hurt us badly just because we wanted Schwarber while sticking our fingers in our ears. Plus it'll screw the next team we need to build. Having Schwarber would be great in an ideal world (say 4 years ago), but roster building needs to make sense. He was sensational last year, yet hardly anyone bar the Phillies and possibly us (and I believe that is only if we can make the roster work - IE get Masa out of town) are in on him. There's a reason the Yankees or the Dodgers are not going hard for him. Because it doesn't make sense for their roster, despite how good he is. Unfortunately, it makes little sense for ours right now, because we're stuck with an overpaid, light-hitting DH we can't shift. And with the holes in our roster that $18m is a lot. Hopefully we can pull magic from a bottle. Until then, we need to make moves that make sense to our roster, not fantasy baseball.

No, but he could be part of the package for someone. There is also the possibility of dealing him for a haul of prospects which you flip for starting pitching. A lot of moving parts this winter. I wouldn't be stunned to see the four still on the roster come ST, but it would be a surprise, and one will almost certainly be traded for our other needs.

Yes, it's a concern alright. A lot of either/or talk. I mean, they've extended Anthony and Crochet to big money so technically that money is used up, but that's not enough, we're in place to challenge for titles now, they have to go big. We need two infielders and they need to be big bats, or we won't make it again. Whether one is a trade like Marte, or low end FA like Suarez, I'm fine with, but they need two infielders and they need to be impact players.

I believe you lead the internet in trade proposals, so I imagine it was probably you. Ha!

😂

Yes, the people still complaining about the Devers trade, often miss this part out.